Schools will get a second check

500 classrooms had flawed inspections

new questions arise

October 17, 2007|By Akilah Johnson Staff Writer

As the task begins this week to recheck almost 500 public classrooms with flawed building inspections, School Board members and district auditors question if the reinspections are being handled properly.

The reasons: The firm that performed the original inspections is helping to recheck the work and because it has taken nearly two months to start the effort.

"This should have been an emergency item that should have been dealt with immediately," School Board member Phyllis Hope said Tuesday. "You have kids in classrooms."

The school district started building classrooms about five years ago in an effort to keep up with the state's class-size reduction rules.

It paid Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan about $937,700 to check the structural integrity, electrical systems, plumbing and gas lines of new 489 classrooms from April 2004 to January 2007.

But an audit by the district released in August found that many of those classrooms weren't inspected, failed inspections and not reinspected or failed re-inspection. Despite the problems, the classrooms were cleared for use by teachers and students.

Also, according to the audit, nine of the inspectors weren't licensed to assess schools and two others had licenses granting limited inspection capability.

"Now I'm even more concerned," Hope said.

Although dozens of classrooms did not pass life safety inspections - looking at fire alarms, sprinkler systems and emergency exits - those concerns since have been addressed as a result of regular semi-annual checks, said Ronald Morgan, the district's acting chief building official.

"I can assure there are really no fire alarm and fire safety issues at each of the schools," Morgan said.

A company official has already acknowledged the inspection problems.

"I can assure you that I'm losing sleep over this," Randy Larson, the firm's executive vice president, told board members in September. "This is our problem and we intend to fix it."

If the inspections are not corrected, Post, Buckley could lose additional work with the school district.

According to district documents, Post, Buckley claims all the rooms are safe because there were "numerous checks and balances ... to provide for a safe environment for all eventual users and occupants."

The re-inspections, however, will include X-rays of classroom walls to make sure steel beams that hold the concrete in place are secured. The new checks begin Thursday and should continue for 60 days. School district staff and Post, Buckley inspectors will revisit the classrooms.

But School Board member Eleanor Sobel questioned whether a company that did the inspections wrong the first time could objectively evaluate its own work.

Sobel, like district auditors, said she wanted an independent company to do the work.

Instead, Post, Buckley and district inspectors will work in tandem to examine work completed by an unqualified inspector. The firm's inspectors will identify work the company did and district employees will do the actual re-inspection, Deputy Superintendent Donnie Carter said.

The company also helped the district create a master list of all the inspections done on the 28 campuses, who completed the work and when.

Patrick Reilly, the district's chief auditor, said, however, that the school system should make its own list of what wasn't inspected and what needs to be re-inspected. Officials would compare the two lists, and "then we can go from there," he said.

Otherwise, it's like the fox guarding the henhouse, said Dave Rhodes, the district's director of facility audits.

Carter said earlier that there was no need to hire an outside firm because school district inspectors are acting as the independent third party.

Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4527.